Asset manager Northern Trust and Singapore-based fintech BondEvalue have completed the first trade of a fractionalized blockchain-based bond, BondbloX.

The transaction was executed on BondEvalue’s platform with Northern Trust as the exclusive asset servicing provider after the two firms established a partnership to deliver integrated asset servicing and digital solutions for fractional ownership of fixed-income bonds operating from the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Sandbox Express.

BondEvalue’s platform uses distributed ledger technology (DLT) to enable enhanced transparency, liquidity and faster settlement for those wishing to make institutional grade investments.

Northern Trust is providing securities services for the wholesale bonds and will support receipt of investments and payments of redemptions for the platform in a wide array of currencies. In what is believed to be a first for the industry, Northern Trust has built the capability to communicate cash and securities settlement reporting directly to BondEvalue’s DLT platform via an application programming interface.

“Digital assets bring significant benefits to both the end investor and all participants within the value chain as they improve trust and liquidity within market segments as a result of the immutable record,” says Justin Chapman, Northern Trust’s global head of market advocacy and innovation research. “An additional benefit of fractionalized ownership of digital assets is the ability to open up institutional bond markets to more investor types – this is a positive step forward for broadening financial inclusion.”